hopefully we will turn that energy from occurring. i want to commend the president and vice president biden for working on this issue. there are obvious ones like getting assault weapons. and the question is, what will we do? secretary, thank you, and thank the president for supporting us. [applause] i want to recognize the council members that have joined us today. and the council member that within the last 24 hours, the chair of the education committee. both are experienced and are very committed to the district. thank you for being here. to the folks that have joined us, our deputy mayor that has a daunting responsibility of health and human services, and who has enormous experience working with children, especially early childhood. the deputy mayor for education, we appreciate you stepping up. our chair that leaves the child and family services committee. we got a glowing report just the other day with the progress we are making. it wasn't long ago that we had children in foster care in the city. the number is down to just under